


5.Forehead Kisses

by w_hope



Series: KHR Flufftober 2020 [5]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Adult Arcobaleno (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Don't copy to another site, Family Fluff, Fluff, Forehead Kisses, Gen, Light Angst, Not Beta Read, POV Third Person, The Chosen Seven Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26820529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/w_hope/pseuds/w_hope
Summary: Luce has sudden insomina. Reborn joins her on the deck to maybe get her to talk about it.
Relationships: Luce & Reborn (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!)
Series: KHR Flufftober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945450
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Reborn goes out on the deck on quiet steps, and immediately gathers his flames just under his skin to protect himself against the night breeze.

Luce is sat on the bench next to him, her eyes lost somewhere in front of her. Again.

At least she remembers to bring a blanket with her every time. They can’t have her falling sick when her belly is so big already.

Reborn leans against the pillar, not quite facing her, but definitely looking at her.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” Luce says softly.

“You’re getting us worried, mia signora.” Luce looks terrible, her skin pale and her face always tired, dark bags under her eyes when they’re not red-rimmed, and some days they’re both. “When is the last time you got a full night sleep?”

Reborn knows when. Over a week ago Luce suddenly couldn’t make herself sleep anymore, and they still have no clue as to what happened.

They do have a guess, but she never talked to them about any of the visions she had before, so it’s unlikely she’s going to do it now.

“I’m fine, I’ll go back in my room in a moment.”

“Look over here.” Luce pretends she didn’t hear him, and even ducks her eyes a little. Reborn makes his voice more light-hearted. “Come on, look at me.”

Luce looks up, and chuckles are immediately pried from her mouth. She covers it with her hand, crinkles at the corner of her eyes.

“You’re ridiculous.”

Reborn feels the soft fabric of his bright yellow onesie with little angels-Leon on it, well aware of the matching hat with a tassel on his head. “But not any less handsome, wouldn’t you say?”

Luce shakes her head. “I’d be laying if I did.” She tightens the blanket around herself, her eyes looking ahead again, but Reborn is pleased to see her more relaxed than before.

“What is it that’s keeping you awake at night?”

“Nothing you wouldn’t have heard before. Nothing I wasn’t raised to deal with on my own.”

“I don’t know about that,” Reborn says. “Perhaps if you talk to me about it, I could share with you my ways to deal with these kinds of thoughts that don’t keep _me_ awake at night.”

“And yet here you are.” Luce glances at him, mischief in her eyes mixed with gratefulness.

Reborn huffs. “So am I. Not for much longer I hope.”

“Just for a bit more.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, cradles her belly in her hands. “I—” She closes her mouth, and Reborn thinks she won’t speak out after all. “Do you believe in destiny, Reborn?”

Reborn raises an eyebrow. “Destiny, uh? No. I believe life is a wild animal you have to tame to make it what you want. To pried from his claws the things you want. And I must say, shooting a couple of bullets or a hundred its way works quite well.”

Luce laughs lightly. “Yes, of course you’d think that.” She smiles. “Well, I for one do believe in destiny. I believe there’s a reason for everything that happens, that everyone is born in this world for a reason. I believe it’s how the world knows how it should turn.”

“That sounds very suffocating.”

“But it can sound very inspiring too, can’t it? Comforting, reassuring.”

“You only look tormented to me.”

“No.” Luce meets his eye, and there’s steel in hers. She shakes her head. “No, I only feel saddened. And angry. I feel _so_ violently furious at times, I’m afraid it will sway me.” Her fingers curl on her belly, and her hair falls in front of her face in a way he can’t see her eyes anymore. “And I cannot be swayed.”

Something in Reborn _lurches_ in his throat, and he almost chokes on it. (It feels like his heart.)

He kneels in front of her, lifts her chin with his finger.

“You listen to me well, Luce. I don’t know in what mafia world you’re living in, but in mine there’s nothing more worth doing than being selfish. Luce, look at me.” Reborn tucks her hair behind her ears, cups her face. Luce’s eyes shines. “Whatever it is, you do what’s best for you. You do what you have to do. Nothing else matters.”

Luce holds on his wrists, tight, tight, _tight_ , her nails digging in his skin. “Thank you.”

“Let’s go back inside.”

“Okay.”

Reborn stands, the weight of his heart still in his throat. He ignores it.

He leans in again, and lay a lingering kiss on her forehead. It feels desperate, feels like a plea, and he doesn’t know why, he doesn’t know what for. He doesn’t want to question it.

And if he notices the tears rolling down Luce’s face, he doesn’t say.


	2. Bonus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some thoughts/headcanon I have about this verse.

  * I pretty much always headcanon Luce as knowing about the Curse long before they’re chosen as the Seven Strongest but... _what if she didn’t?_
  * There’s this moment in the manga with Aria and Gamma where Aria talks about how her mother was cursed but she didn’t believe in it. And when Gamma asks about the pacifier around her neck she doesn’t seem to know much more about it than him. (The way I remember it anyway.)
  * So maybe the Giglio Nero Donna don’t get the “You’re Going To Be A Human Sacrifice To Save The World” Talk by their mother. Maybe they’re kept in the dark about the pacifier around their neck.
  * What if it was the case for Luce?



* * *

  * Luce shows up at the meeting of the Seven Strongest, and she’s not complicit in an upcoming tragedy. Not at first.
  * She’s just Luce, Giglio Nero Ottavo, who just so happens to be the Strongest Sky of her generation.
  * And of course they all have their suspicions and doubts upon showing up at the meeting. And none of them fail to notice how they’re Seven with each a different flame, and it only makes them more distrustful.
  * Here’s the thing though, they _are_ a Harmony. They show up at the meeting their flames tucked close deep inside them (but ready to attack nonetheless), but the pull of the others’ flames on their own make them stagger anyway.
  * It’s unfortunate they meet like that, in the middle of what is not yet a trap (what will _not_ become a trap if they have anything to say to it), but...
  * Flames don’t lie, and these people are their _Home_. This woman is their _Sky_.
  * So they grow closer, despite themselves at first, but much more willing the longer they spend time together, and Luce has a lot to do with that.
  * She’s a Donna, so she knows better than trusting people blindly whatever her flames may say, but she is a Sky too. And these people are hers to love, to protect, to shield against the world.
  * These people are _hers_.
  * And she wants that. Wants to give them all of that. So she does.



* * *

  * She has the vision one day, out of the blue (or not so much out of the blue, is it?). And there’s no unseeing what she saw, unknowing what she can’t forget now.
  * And she doesn’t even know how far (or _close_ ) the Fated Day is because it’s not like her visions come with a calendar. Not that it would matter.
  * Now here's the thing: it _could_ matter. Here's what happens: it doesn't. She doesn't let it.
  * Luce has her vision, and her first thought when she puts herself back together is—
  * (When bitterness stops burning her throat, and anger stops deafening her, and sorrow stops stinging her eyes—except they never really stop)
  * — _she can’t tell them._
  * (And Luce would like to say it’s about them, she would. But if there’s anything more terrifying than having to save the world, it’s having to do it alone.)
  * And right after that—
  * _She has to do it._
  * (And what does _that_ say about herself? She doesn’t want to find out.)
  * She has to.
  * (And what right does she have to hang on their love when she clearly doesn’t deserve it? She doesn’t.)
  * _**She has to.**_
  * And so she does.



* * *

  * (Reborn said she had to be selfish, said she had to think about herself first and do what she had to do. So she did.)
  * (She doesn’t want her baby to be born in a world about to fall apart.)



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more I write about Luce, the more I wonder why she isn't written much in the fandom. I mean yeah Amano gave us little about her, but the things she _did_ give us flesh Luce out to be quite the three-dimensional character.
> 
> I mean _she did that_. Now you can like her or not, condemn what she did or not, understand/excuse/justify what she did or not, but she was asked to save the world and _she went and **did it**_. Sacrificing herself, and her Harmony, and the future of her baby, sacrificing to her very _name_ because no one else knew the stakes and she certainly didn't get any thank you for what she did.
> 
> And yes I did say "asked" because unlike the others she saw it coming. She could have tried to fight it, to run away from it, to stop it altogether. But she didn't. Now of course we all can have our own opinion about that, but the fact is she _didn't_. And either way I think it speaks of an incredible inner strength.
> 
> Anyway Luce is _neat_. Let's try to write fics more friendly to her character.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading!
> 
> \--- w_h


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